Mali troops and suspected Russian fighters allegedly executed about 300 civilians in five days during a military operation in a central Mali city, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday, which was denied by the country’s military. The killings took place between March 27 and 31 in Moura, a rural town of about 10,000 people in the Mopti area, a hotbed of extremist activity that has intensified and spread to neighboring Sahel countries. “The incident is the worst atrocity reported in the decade-long armed conflict in Mali,” HRW said. The reported executions have drawn condemnation from the United States, the European Union, France and Germany, which have called on the Mali government to allow an independent inquiry. The West African military on Tuesday denied the allegations, saying it was conducting a professional, well-executed operation in Moura to target Islamist militants. He had previously said he had killed more than 200 people after learning that they would meet there. “Absolute control of the site has allowed the search, detection and detection of terrorists disguised and hidden among the civilian population,” the military said in a statement. After the clash, he said the army used a helicopter to pursue and “neutralize” the fighters trying to escape. The suspects in the city were then arrested and taken out to stand trial, he said. Witnesses told HRW a different story. Nineteen witnesses told the rights group that soldiers from Mali and Russian-speaking people arrived by helicopter and exchanged two shots with Islamist fighters, during which guerrillas, soldiers and a few civilians were killed. Troops then deployed to the city, briefly executed several men and then rounded up hundreds of other unarmed men from their homes and transported them to a nearby river, Witnesses told HRW. Many were merchants from the surrounding villages who came to watch the city’s weekly livestock market. Some of these groups had been infiltrated by militants, witnesses told HRW. The men were held for five days in the sun and arbitrarily selected to be shot during the night. The bodies were stacked in three mass graves, HRW said. More than 100 Russian-speaking men were reportedly involved in the operation, according to several security sources who spoke to HRW. Several witnesses also described white soldiers speaking an unknown foreign language they believed to be Russian. A trader said he was drinking tea with his two brothers while waiting for the market to start when he heard gunshots. “Seven Russians approached, gesturing for us to get up. There were no soldiers from Mali with them. “They searched us and the house and then took us east of the village, near the river, where we found another 100 men,” he told HRW. “Another group of Russians showed my brothers and another man. I thought they were going for questioning. “They took them several meters further and executed them, in the end,” he said. Reuters could not independently confirm the statements of the witnesses cited by HRW. Mali’s transitional government, which came to power in a military coup in 2020, is fighting the uprising with the help of private military contractors belonging to Russia’s Wagner group. Both Mali and Russia have previously stated that they are not mercenaries but trainers assisting local troops with equipment purchased from Russia. France, the former Mali colonizer, has thousands of troops fighting the country for nearly a decade, but said earlier this year it was withdrawing after relations deteriorated, in part due to the arrival of Russian fighters. A French-led mission from 14 predominantly European countries with 600 to 900 troops to Mali is also being completed. Our Morning and Afternoon Newsletters are compiled by Globe editors, giving you a brief overview of the day’s most important headlines. Register today.
